Search-and-rescue operations on Lake Zaisan in the East Kazakhstan Region have ended after the bodies of two men who drowned when their boat capsized were pulled from the water, the website infohub.kz reports.
According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations' official Telegram channel, the search was conducted in the Tugyl rural district of Tarbagatai district.
"On 15 September, three men were fishing from a boat on the lake. Strong winds capsized the vessel. One of the fishermen, born in 1968, managed to get out of the water on his own. He was rescued by local residents. Two men, born in 1968 and 1995, drowned. They were not wearing life jackets," the ministry said.
According to the ministry, an emergency operations headquarters was set up at the scene as soon as the information came in. Ministry units deployed divers, rescue boats, launches and other watercraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and an underwater drone, as well as local residents, for the search-and-rescue effort.
Today, during the search, local residents found the body of the man born in 1968. The body of the second victim, born in 1995, was found by ministry divers 8.9 km from the shore. The search continued around the clock. Rescuers surveyed a large area of the lake, including with underwater technical equipment. Ministry divers made 8 dives.
The rescue effort was complicated by the lake's considerable depth, the difficult bottom terrain and limited underwater visibility.